Sharath Jois, director of the Sharath Yoga Centre in Mysore, India, and lineage holder of the Ashtanga Yoga system, dies at age 53.
A sad reminder that all of our lives, no matter how healthy and strong we may seem, hang by a thread and can end at any one moment. Memento mori!
May you rest in peace.
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The “Día de Muertos” is a really beautiful tradition (and yes, I know I'm a little late...). It is so contrary to the way death is dealt with in most European cultures (and in particular in German culture), where it is usually attempted to avoid thinking of death as much as possible.
To me, it seems that the “Día de Muertos” is a very healthy way of coping with death and acknowledging that there is no live withouth death – memento mori.
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A nice – if somewhat explicit – companion to Words by Justin Jackson:
And another reason for the Gemini protocol, for that matter.
Read on Mastodon.
Here’s my review of Michael W Lucas: “Ed Mastery”.
Make sure to read the review by Peter N. M. Hansteen as well (might be a little more factual than mine...)!
Read on Mastodon.
Finished reading Ed Mastery by Michael W Lucas. Review will be coming shortly.
Looking forward to getting Run Your Own Mail Server next.
Read on Mastodon.
A simple demonstration of the monkey mind in action I find startling every time I am experiencing it:
When something comes to your mind which you must not or do not want to forget, do not write it down (or otherwise persist it) immediately, but instead try to keep it in your mind for a couple of minutes.
Sounds easy, but most of the times when something I need to or want to remember comes to my mind while brushing my teeth, for instance, I have forgotten it by the time I am finished because my mind has already jumped to the next subject(s) it happens to find interesting.
Time and again I am thinking to myself in such situations: “Come on, it is impossible that you forget <thought so and so> until you are done with <activity so and so> just repeat the thought in your mind all the time.” And often, the thought is forgotten within a fraction of a minute.
Of course, oftentimes I will remember my thought again after a while; usually it is not completely forgotten and gone. The point is that this shows that it is really hard to focus your mind on a single thing even for a short period of time.
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Thinking differentiates the world, meditation integrates it.
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I love the poem “Small Kindnesses” (see www.danushalameris.com/poems) by Danusha Lameris, an ode to kindness and compassion. It is not about big, heroic actions, but rather about small, everyday acts often performed almost unconsciously. Yet those small kindnesses are so important for our living together that they deserve attention and awareness.
It is a beautiful elaboration on the Dalai Lama's famous statement “My religion is kindness”.
Read on Mastodon.
Practiced meditation for 30 minutes this morning.
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One of the things I really like about the geminiprotocol is that Gemini capsules lend themselves to being viewed with a text-based Gemini client in a terminal (although there are great GUI Gemini clients as well, notably Lagrange).
While there are text-based browsers for web pages as well (like lynx, links or w3m), to me they always felt more like workarounds, since the web is very much m ultimedia-oriented these days (in spite of its origins).
On the contrary, since the geminiprotocol is text-oriented, text-based Gemini clients feel completely natural to me.
Read on Mastodon.
Practiced meditation for 30 minutes this morning.
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Got some more gardening work done before the rain starts.
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Practiced meditation for 30 minutes this morning.
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Did some gardening work in the evening, enjoyed vegan overnight oats made with oat milk – time to close the day.
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I always felt like being too much of a mathematician for being a physicist, and too much of a physicist for being a mathematician – like sitting between two chairs.
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Creating a Gemini capsule (in particular when approached with the mindset of creating a web page) is another proof for the fact that constraints often foster c reativity and focus on what is really important.
In short: Not being able to do everything is often a good thing.
Read on Mastodon.
Practiced meditation for 30 minutes this morning.
And yeah, I am fully aware of the irony that I am already back to social media...
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Foggy morning in Frankfurt. Probably going to be another warm day before the temperature drops somewhat.
Read on Mastodon.Again practiced meditation for 20 minutes this morning.
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So why does the behavior of
dc(1) and
bc(1) differ with respect to
the -e command-line parameter?
$ bc -e <expr>evaluates <expr> and then enters the REPL, while
$ dc -e <expr>evaluates <expr> and then exits.
The advantage of the bc(1) behavior is that one can easily define an alias which e.g. sets the scale before doing calculations:
alias bc="bc -e 'scale = 2'"while defining an alias with the equivalent expression for dc(1),
alias dc="dc -e '2 k'"does not make a lot of sense.
Am I missing something?
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I love the pictures of the Scottish Highlands by Steve Carter. They not only capture the beautiful rough Highlands landscape, sometimes displaying scattered tr aces of mankind, sometimes not, but – and this is why they are so appealing to me &ndahs; they often create a really dense atmosphere which I find captivating.
Highly recommended!
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Practiced meditation for 20 minutes yesterday and today morning. First time in a while...
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Above 30 °C in Frankfurt right now. Might well be the hottest day here in the remaining year (although in previous years, we had days with temperatures around 30 °C as late as mid-October).
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Today's featured article on the German Wikipedia is about Caspar David Friedrich, one of my favorite painters. Worth reading (I guess the English version as well)!
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Installed aerc today and quite like it at first (and second) glance.
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Just started reading Ed Mastery by Michael W Lucas, and it's great fun (and very instructive as well).
I'm starting to feel a little whimpy as a vi user, though...
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I have created a Gemini capsule out of curiosity: thorstenzoeller.com.
It is hosted on OpenBSD Amsterdam and served by gmid(8) from Omar Polo. Setting it up was really simple!
Thanks to OpenBSD Amsterdam for hosting my website as well as my Gemini capsule, and thanks to Omar for having written the gmid server!
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Two really great (and completely unrelated) documentaries I watched a while back on a flight:
Both are highly recommended!
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The wonderful and timeless text Words by Justin Jackson actually quite perfectly captures the essence of what the Gemini protocol was made for.
Read on Mastodon.
Repeating things over and over again creates strong habits with time.
We are aware of this and make use of it when we deliberately try to form new, beneficial habits.
But it is just as true for all the things we repeat unconsciously all the time. It is worth trying to become aware of these as well and asking ourselves if they create habits which serve us or habits which hinder — or even harm – us.
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Always take the stairs.
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The best booster for creativity: Being in motion.
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Words uttered far too rarely: “I don't know.”
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Perspectives are not right or wrong. They are useful or not useful.
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Just had my first sugar apple (or sweetsop?) in years – so delicious!
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Note to self: Spend more time squatting.
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Eating fresh mangosteens – what a joy!
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Richard Rogler, one of the great German political satirists (“Kabarettist”), died at age 74.
May you rest in peace.
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A little vegan gem in Đà Lạt, Vietnam: “Quán Chay Hằng Thiện”. The vegan lẩu (hot pot) is excellent.
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You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.
A very stoic and true quote.
Also see: My favorite fable by Derek Sivers.
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Beautiful restaurant with many vegan options in Nha Trang, Vietnam, not far from the beach: Ơi Nha Trang
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Went to see the current exhibition Planet Ocean in the Gasometer Oberhausen when I visited my hometown a couple of weeks ago. Another great exhibition in this really cool location; thinking about going a second time later this year.
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First Ashtanga Yoga practice in a while this morning. Was a tough one (even more so than usual). Right knee hurt a lot, as was to be expected. Sweated like crazy in the tropical heat of Nha Trang, Vietnam (in spite of the early morning hours).
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An ability of utmost importance – and becoming ever more important: To be able to focus, to not easily get distracted, to withstand the constant fight for one's attention.
A true superpower.
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Note to self: Instead of impulsively checking the phone in idle moments and mindlessly browsing the web (which includes mindlessly browsing Mastodon), do a few rounds of mindful breathing instead.
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Best statement about patriotism I have ever heard:
No, no. I don't love states. I love my wife; that's it.
(German original: “Ach was, ich liebe keine Staaten, ich liebe meine Frau; fertig!”)
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In the case of climate, we are not the dinosaurs. We are the meteor. We are not only in danger. We are the danger. But we are also the solution.
Source: Special address on climate action, A Moment of Truth, to the American Museum of Natural History in New York on 2024-06-04 (https://press.un.org/en/2024/sgsm22255.doc.htm).
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Finished reading Der Zen-Affe und die Lotusblume (The Zen Monkey and the Lotus Flower). Although the many beautiful Buddhist stories and parables appear a little corny and naive at times, they convey timeless insights and wisdom and are pleasant to read. I could have done without the explanations after each story, though.
Read on Mastodon.
Why Functional Programming Matters by Minh Quang Tran.
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“Human beings used to witness 25,000 sunrises during their lifetime. Have you seen 25 in the last year? Or were you too busy?”
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It's a pity that most undergraduate physics students today are still not properly being taught about the geometrical nature of tensors. While tensors are at the foundation of much of the mathematics of physics today, they are still not usually being introduced and taught as the geometrical objects they are. Sure, when working in a space which is endowed with sufficient structure, many objects can be transformed to either vectors or scalars, but that completely conceals their true geometrical nature.
It is really remarkable (in a sad way) that the focus of teaching today is so much on what is likely considered to be some kind of pragmatism or practicality. This may make it easier to quickly get enabled to calculate stuff, but this ease comes at the expense of developing a real understanding. I think this is a very shortsighted approach.
Furthermore, and just as important in my opinion, students are deprived of experiencing the full beauty of these objects in favor of providing them with a mere tool whose sole purpose it is to be able to somehow obtain correct results (not that this is not important, but it is only one aspect).
So what to do about this? For beginning undergraduate students, I recommend reading Geometrical Vectors by Gabriel Weinreich (which basically contains no formulae at all and instead completely focuses on conveying a grasp of the objects themselves). When I first read Geometrical Vectors sometime during my undergraduate studies, it did not speak to me at all (I guess I was already too much indoctrinated by the traditional, orthodox way of teaching vectors and tensors). The second time I read it, however, was a profound experience, almost like an epiphany.
After having developed a basic understanding of these matters, Gauge fields, knots and gravity by John Baez and Javier P. Muniain is a great resource (it contains much more and advanced material though). John Baez is a master of conveying physical and mathematical ideas, and I would recommend basically everything he writes.
Read on Mastodon.
The Elegance of Plain-Text Writing
Read on Mastodon.
And for those interested in a more philosophical elaboration of the subject of walking, A Philosophy of Walking by Frédéric Gros might be for you (as well as basically everything Craig Mod writes, of course).
Read on Mastodon.
Read (and watch) The Walking Man by Jiro Taniguchi. Why? Craig Mod explains it much better than I could in Ridgeline Transmission 158 (which is worth reading in its own right). Just like Craig, it took me a year of two to actually buy and read it (since – just like Craig – I am not a big comics reader), but it was on my list ever since I read Craig's review. It may not be for everyone, but if you can relate to the theme, it is definitely worth it.
Read on Mastodon.
Nice article about the wonderful John Baez: Mathematician Aims to Keep It Simple
Read on Mastodon.
Dopamine fasting is a tech fad that sounds silly – but might just work by Oliver Burkeman.
So true: Store-Brand Insecurity by Joshua Fields Millburn of The Minimalists.
The Plaintext Journal: An open project created by Geffrey van der Bos about the importance of plain text for digital communication. Articles can be contributed and edited by anyone by making pull requests on a GitHub Repository. As the website states: We believe in the timeless essence of plain text. Yes, we do!
Can little actions bring big joy? Researchers find 'micro-acts' can boost well-being (via https://mastodon.social/@Robinbonhomme/111449193672309445)
I first became aware of Johann Sebastian Bach’s genius when I read Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter, one of my favorite non-fiction books of all time, more than two decades ago. The question posed by Tyler Cowen, Is Bach the greatest achiever of all time?, therefore seems fully reasonable to me.
Simple way to rename a hash key in Ruby:
hash[new_key] = hash.delete(old_key)
This employs the fact that the delete method returns the
value associated with the key to be deleted. Therefore, it is equivalent
to:
hash[new_key] = hash[old_key]
hash.delete(old_key)
Note: If old_key is not guaranteed to exist, the case that
it does not exist needs to be handled.
Nice article about Turing machines: The Most Important Machine That Was Never Built.
The best science images of 2022: Stunning!
Space Elevator: Really fun, not just for kids.
Thoughts on journaling: Answering common questions by Michael Eaton.
Avoid unnecessary amplifiers by Seth Godin.
A set of guidelines for designing command-line programs based on Unix principles: Command Line Interface Guidelines
The Unpredictable Abilities Emerging From Large AI Models: At the same time startling, intriguing, and uncanny.
Good article by Bradley Taunt: Stop Using Custom Web Fonts (also good: A rant on web font licenses by Manu Moreale, referenced in Bradley’s article).
I’ll admit it: I usually have way too many browser tabs open. Every now and then, I lose my open tabs upon restarting the browser (because it could not fully recover from a previous crash or for whatever other reason). And each and every time, I somehow feel relieved when that happens. I don’t miss any of the tabs I previously considered too valuable to close; usually, I cannot even remember most of them.
Which reminds me that I should really adjust my browser preferences such that tabs will not be reopened upon starting...
3 good things:
Meditated for 20 minutes – first time in a rather long time.
Played two rounds of the fantastic game “Ganz schön clever” with my son.
Got some fresh air in the afternoon.
Ashtanga Yoga is not about progress. It’s about perseverance.
Simply beautiful: BEING by Michael Torke. Found it via https://c.im/@jwsgeek@glod.org/109996126447093296.
New article: Derek Sivers: “How to Live”.
There are few things which are as humbling as practicing Ashtanga Yoga regularly.
New article: Running Anki inside Xephyr.
We have lost the ability to just be. We know how to do, but not how to be.
The importance of editing texts and refactoring code can hardly be overestimated.
“Gibs auf” (“Give it up!”): Fascinating (and, well, very Kafkaesque) very short story by Franz Kafka.
New text: The Melancholy of the Day.
New note: A Simple E-Mail Reminder System Based on cron and at.
A great example of seeing things from a different point of view: The short story “The House of Asterion” by Jorge Luis Borges.
Since yesterday was Friday, the 13th, I was wondering how often the 13th day of a month is a Friday. Instead of trying to come up with a proper derivation, I approached the question by employing brute force (i.e. by writing a small script on the computer which counts such occurrences).
The result: On average, there are approximately 1.72 occurrences of Friday, the 13th, per year.
(Of course, if one were less lazy than me, one could also just do the math, or if one were even more lazy than me, one could just look it up.)
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is certainly one of the great achievements of mankind (in spite of the – in many cases entirely insufficient – degree to which human rights are respected throughout the world). Yet, with rights also come responsibilities. A Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities is a proposal by the InterAction Council for human responsibilities that come along with the human rights.
The digital collection of the Städel Museum contains more than 24,000 images of artworks in the public domain.
Population density world map by NASA Earth Obervations (NEO) (contains various other interesting maps of the world).
103 Bits of Advice I Wish I Had Known by Kevin Kelly: Full of insights and invaluable advice.
Note to myself: Reread at least once per month.
Turning off my phone improved my science – insightful article by PhD student Adam Weiss. How much would our all lives be improved if we stopped using our phones all the time?
Just rediscovered this impressive depiction of depths: xkcd: Lakes and Oceans.
The Tyranny of Convenience by Tim Wu – an important article to which I was pointed by the article Harder, easier and more convenient by Seth Godin. Both articles emphasize the importance of doing things which are not convenient, in the face of the general trend towards ever more convenience in practically all areas of life. The last paragraph of Tim Wu's article provides a good summary:
So let’s reflect on the tyranny of convenience, try more often to resist its stupefying power, and see what happens. We must never forget the joy of doing something slow and something difficult, the satisfaction of not doing what is easiest. The constellation of inconvenient choices may be all that stands between us and a life of total, efficient conformity.
As the title of Ridgeline: 139 – Walk for the Boredom of it All by Craig Mod implies, the topic of this newsletter article is boredom, and since it is Craig Mod, specifically the boredom while walking. Actually, it mostly references a recent interview with him, citing some passages from it and featuring his comments to them. In particular, he further stresses the importance of boredom in his remarks.
Boredom is an issue I also find highly interesting, and I am convinced – as Craig is – that it is really important to experience boredom and to be able to stand it and cope with it, and that we currently live in an age where we are trying very hard to do everything we can to not be bored, mostly by resorting to various kinds of ever more intricate and sophisticated (and not so sophisticated) distractions and diversions.
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
Base64-encode a string from the command line using uuencode(1):
$ echo -n <string> | b64encode '' | sed '1d;$d' | tr -d '\n'I have never really seen coding the way described in The Healing Power of Code by Craig Mod, but I can definitely relate to much of what is being said in the article.
I fully agree with practically everything stated in Write plain text files by Derek Sivers as I have come to the same conclusions myself. Another one of Derek's articles which can hardly be cited too often.
xkcd: ISO 8601 – Exactly.
Apparently, there was an inscription on the temple of the Oracle of Delphi which read:
Know thyself
Nothing to excess
Maxims to be taken to heart.
Jeder Mensch – Initiative for six new fundamental rights for Europe which take the major developments and problems of the recent decades into account.
Finished reading How to Live by Derek Sivers. A definite must-read: Extremely dense and to the point, packed with wisdom – in a word: stunning!
New note: Multiple-Click Selections in xterm.
I didn't know that carrot greens are edible and so delicious when stir-fried!
I had long been looking for a keyboard alternative to clicking the middle mouse button for pasting the primary selection. Recently I learned that pressing Shift+Insert will do it – very convenient!
New note: Taking Screenshots on OpenBSD.
“Just in case” – One of the most common justifications for letting clutter accrue.
A worthy prompt: Just For A Moment, Let's Be Still.
Just finished reading Hell Yeah or No by Derek Sivers and enjoyed it at least as much as Your Music and People. Great collection of articles, including some of my favorites by Derek, like Actions, not words, reveal our real values, Subtract, Disconnect, Everything is my fault, My favorite fable, Parenting : Who is it really for?, and I'm a very slow thinker, among others.
Harder, easier and more convenient by Seth Godin – the aspiration to ever more convenience is often faulty.
Taschenhirn.de: Knowledge database containing lots of interesting data in the form of lists organized into different categories (German only).
I hate Ashtanga Yoga. And I love it.
Rediscovered two good posts by Zach Holman (and, well, Zach Holman himself): Keeping a Journal and My Favorite Tweet. Also, Text Snippets. Boom.
Finished reading Your Music and People by Derek Sivers and loved it, though I am not even a musician myself!
I love beautiful hand-crafted web sites. Examples: sive.rs, mlaine.sdfeu.org.
“...which components of what aspects of the many things making up our lives at any point are worth noting in some external fashion, and which can be left undocumented?” – The question Colin Wright is asking in his newsletter article Documentation, and a question I am pondering as well.
High school and university students have designed and built a LEGO model of the detector of the ALICE experiment at CERN, consisting of about 16,000 LEGO bricks – highly impressive!
Roden 059 – Stupid Life Tricks by Craig Mod contains a thoughtful piece on the ever-present distractions of our phones and their consequences – a pressing and, in my opinion, still underrated issue of our time. In particular, it cites an expressive passage from the recent article Picturing the Humanity and Dread of the Infinite Scroll by Jia Tolentino, and refers to an interesting Aziz Ansari interview, Aziz Ansari on Quitting the Internet, Loneliness, and Season 3 of Master of None. Finally, it mentions two great articles by Craig himself, The Glorious, Almost-Disconnected Boredom of My Walk in Japan and How I Got My Attention Back – both must-reads.
My advice (for what it's worth) for success and happiness: Compete with yourself and root for everybody else.
Wise advice: Make Sure You Write Down Everything Interesting That You Find.
Beautiful article: Long, Boring Walks by Craig Mod.
Can we please establish a universal code of conduct stating that no smartphones are to be used at the dining table?
Instead by Seth Godin. A few additions:
Instead of overeating, stop when still feeling slightly hungry.
Instead of exclaiming “I knew it!”, remain silent.
Instead of rushing to the next to-do, sit still for a few moments.
Man alone measures time. Man alone chimes the hour. And, because of this, man alone suffers a paralyzing fear that no other creature endures. A fear of time running out.
(Related recent article by Chris Guillebeau: Time Anxiety Is the Most Pressing Problem of Our Age)
Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand small uncaring ways.
Rediscovering the joy of cycling.
Two very convenient shell aliases for copying the primary X selection to the system clipboard and vice versa:
alias primary2clip='xsel -p | xsel -i -b'
alias clip2primary='xsel -b | xsel -i -p'Alternatively, using xclip instead of xsel:
alias primary2clip='xclip -o -selection primary | xclip -i -selection clipboard'
alias clip2primary='xclip -o -selection clipboard | xclip -i -selection primary'See X is for the X Selection: Copy and Paste on Linux (Shallow Thoughts) for more information.
Once again, I find myself fascinated by the miracles and history of the Laocoon Group.
In recent years, I have become increasingly aware of the profound effects of walking. Many ideas occur to me while walking, and to me, walking – especially in solitude in nature – is a very calming and contemplative activity. How Walking Fosters Creativity: Stanford Researchers Confirm What Philosophers and Writers Have Always Known is another interesting article on this subject, focusing on the connection between walking and creativity. In particular, it cites the wonderful book “A Philosophy of Walking” by Frédéric Gros.
The renovated Twin Gable House, designed by Ryan Leidner, is truly amazing with its light-flooded, minimalist interior and beautiful inner courtyard.
Every completed Ashtanga practice is a little victory.
What does it mean to be a leader? Leaders make people better. Applies to leading yourself as well.
Installed OpenBSD 6.9. A big thanks to the developers for what so far looks like another great release!
Acting yourself into motivation is much more effective than thinking yourself into motivation or waiting for motivation to occur.
Slowly getting used to using the Spleen font in the terminal.
New website is live! Here's why.
A good habit to form: Reading in A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy every day.
How to Write: why jotting things into notebooks improves your writing – I fully agree.
Yes – This is the Mindset For Life.
Switched from Vim to nvi. Vim started to feel too bloated.
OpenBSD 6.9 released – the 50th OpenBSD release!